School connections boost graduate pay packets

People
educated at private schools earn more than the their state school counterparts,
according to a new study.

Independent school
graduates are paid up to 20 per cent more than state school graduates,
researchers say, and they believe this could be due to network connectivity –
the links that public schools have with graduate employers.

The University of
Warwick and the London School of Economics study also finds that extra income
is proportional to school fees – the higher the fees, the better the
connections and the greater the wage.

Robin Naylor, an
economist at Warwick University, said he was surprised at the gap between
private and state school graduate earnings.

The study looks at
51,000 graduates from the old, pre-1992 universities, and the levels of their
first salaries.

The report finds that
public school graduates earn, on average, 5 per cent more, although 30 per cent
earn 10 per cent extra.

The research shows that
a private school education does more for boys’ future pay packets than for
girls.